Scope and Contents of the Materials

The collection documents the personal and professional activities of Marlin Fitzwater. He served as Assistant to the President for Press Relations under Reagan, and Press Secretary under George H.W. Bush. The bulk of the records in this collection were produced and/or collected by Fitzwater during his years in the White House and in the following years as a lecturer and author. Items include memos, speeches, interviews, correspondence schedules, reports, and other documents. Items of note include correspondence to and from Presidents Reagan and Bush, newswires, briefings, records documenting U.S. and Soviet relations, economic summits, and other foreign and domestic policy decisions made during the terms of Reagan and Bush, Gulf War of 1990-1991. Other items of note in the collection include World War II ration cards belonging of Marlin Fitzwater parents, speeches delivered by Marlin Fitzwater after he left the White House, manuscripts and research materials related to his books, photo albums and numerous photographs of the White House period, posters, and numerous memorabilia items.

Biographical Note

Max Marlin Fitzwater was born on a farm in Salina, Kansas on November 24, 1942 to Max Malcolm and Phyllis Ethel [Seaton] Fitzwater. [He has used his middle name since childhood to distinguish himself from his father]. A graduate from Kansas State University (B.A. in Journalism, 1965), Fitzwater was an advertising executive with the Manhattan Mercury (Kansas) and correspondent for the Topeka Capitol-Journal in 1962-1965. He was editor of the Linsburg News-Record (Kansas) in 1962, and worked for the Abilene Reflector-Chronicle (Kansas). After his graduation from K-State, Fitzwater left for D.C. area, where his fiance landed a job. He soon found his first government job in the Applachian Regional Commission. From 1965 to 1992, Marlin Fitzwater worked at different federal governmental agencies and the White House:

1965-1967 - Assistant in the Public Affairs Department of the Appalachian Regional Commission.

1983-1987 - Deputy Press Secretary to the President for Domestic Policy, The White House

1985-1987 - Press Secretary to the Vice President, The White House

1987-1989 - Assistant to the President for Press Relations, The White House

1989 - Councelor to the President and Press Secretary, The White House

1989-1992 - Press Secretary to the President, The White House

Mr. Fitzwater received the Presidential Citizen Medal in 1992. He has worked on the television show The West Wing as a consultant. In 2002, Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, New Hampshire completed the Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication in his honor.